UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


20th  CoffGHEss,  [Doc.  No.  254.1  'Ho.  OP  REPS. 

1st  Session.  War  Dept. 

CHESAPEAKE  AND  OHIO  CANAL— EXTENSION  OF 


THE  SECRETARY  OF   WAR, 


TIIAXSMITTIXG 


A  REPORT,  MAP,  AND  ESTIMATE, 


CHESAPEAKE  AND  OHIO  CANAL  TO  ALEXANDRIA, 


DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA 


APRII  21,  1828. 
Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Roads  and  Canal* 


WASHINGTON  t 

BT   GILES   &f   SEATOJ. 
1828. 


[Doc.  No.  254.] 


* 

- 

23 


WAR  DEPARTMENT,  Jipril  18,  182&, 

SIB  :  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit,  herewith,  a  letter  of  the  Chief 
Engineer,  of  this  date,  accompanied  by  a  report  map,  and  estimate, 
of  an  extension  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal  to  Alexandria,  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  called  for  by  a  resolution  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  of  the  9th  instant. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 

Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  0 ARBOUR* 
>     Hon.  ANDREW  STEVENSON, 

Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives- 

• 
ij 

I 
I 


[Doc.  No.  254.] 


ENGINEER  DEPARTMENT, 

Washington,  April  18,  18£8. 

SIR  :  In  pursuance  of  your  orders,  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit,  here- 
with, the  report,  map,  and  estimate,  of  a  survey  of  an  extension 
of  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  canal  to  Alexandria,  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  which  was  called  for  by  a  resolution  of  the  House 
of  Representativ  es,  of  the  9th  instant. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  very  respectfully,  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

ALEX    MACOMB, 
Major  General,,  Vhitf  Engineer* 
Hon.  JAMES  BARBOTJR. 

Secretary  of  War. 


[Doc.  No.  254.] 


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12  [Doc.  No.  254.] 

An  estimate  of  the  cost  of  making  said  canal  Jive  feet  deep,  forty  feet 
surface,  and  twenty-foe  feet  bottom;  slope  of  the  banks,  one  Joot  and 
a-ltalfbase,  to  one  foot  perpendicular. 

One  foot  in  depth,  taken  from  the  bottom  of  the  canal  of  four  feet 
deep,  &c.  would  require  the  removal  of  nearly  three  cubic  yards,  for 
each  yard  in  length,  in  most  cases  of  excavation:  but  in  the  embank- 
ments, a  like  quantity  would  be  saved. 

The  embankments,  together,  measure  2,000  yards  nearly,  which, 
compensating  for  a  like  length  of  excavation,  4,000  yards,  is  taken 
from  16,706  yards,  (total  length)  and  there  remains  12,706  yards  x 
3  cubic  yards  =  38, 1 18  cubic  yards,  which,  coming  from  the  bottom, 
may  require  to  be  put  at  12 \  cents  the  cubic  yard  ;  this  makes  the 
sum  of  S  4.765,  which,  being  added  to  the  total  amount  above,  pro- 
duces a  total  of  8  1 63,438  for  said  canal,  if  made  five  feet  deep,  &c. 

From  measurements  and  soundings  of  the  Potomac  river,  made  in 
pursuance  of  directions  of  the  Corporation  of  Georgetown,  by  Mr. 
George  D.  A  very,  the  place  called  the  «•  Three  Sisters"  is  shown  to 
be  a  very  unsuitable  one,  for  a  bridge  of  any  kind.  There  is  a  dis- 
tance of  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  feet,  which  is  over  twenty  feet 
deep — deepest  part,  seventy-six  feet.  In  this  deep  water,  the  bottom 
is  reported  <•  soft,"  and  the  depth,  to  a  solid  foundation,  is  unknown. 

By  inspection  of  the  cross  section  of  the  river,  (accompanying  this,) 
at  a  place  just  above  the  ferry,  the  greatest  depth  appears  to  be  but 
fifteen  feet  at  flood-tide,  and  the  width  but  one  hundred  and  five  feet 
more,  than  at  the  Three  Sisters. 

The  average  depth  of  water  above  the  ferry,  may  be  put,  at  ebb- 
tide, eight  feet ;  distance  across,  one  thousand  and  forty  feet.  An, 
aqueduct  located  at  this  place,  would  strike  the  west  bank  below  that 
precipitous  rocky  shore  which  has  so  raised  the  estimate  of  the  first 
mile.  The  sum  thus  saved  on  the  canal  line,  would  be  full  twenty 
thousand  dollars. 

Particular  examinations  of  the  nature  of  the  bottom  would  be  re- 
quisite, to  enter  into  any  calculation  of  the  cost  of  an  aqueduct  over 
the  Potomac  at  tins  place.  The  cost  of  the  Rochester  aqueduct  over 
the  Genesee  river,  exceeded  one  hundred  dollars  the  foot  run  ;  length 
eight  hundred  and  two  feet ;  cost  eighty-seven  thousand  one  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  dollars.  The  Rochester  aqueduct  measures, 
from  the  top-water  line  to  the  rocky  bottom  on  which  it  stands, 
but  twenty -four  feet.  To  eight  feet,  (average  depth  at  low-tide,)  add 
thirty-seven  feet,  (the  height  proposed  above  the  ebb-tide)  and  the 
top-water  line  of  this  aqueduct  would  be  forty-five  feet  above  the 
averaged  bottom — over  double  the  height  of  the  Rochester  aqueduct. 
The  item  of  pile-driving,  to  make  sure  foundations  for  piers  and  abut- 
ments, would  probably  be  a  considerable  one.  The  cost  of  the  whole 
project,  would,  likely,  fall  little  short  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
If  a  canal  between  Georgetown  and  Alexandria  were  made  to  pur- 
sue the  most  economical  route,  as  has  been  done  along  the  shores  of 
the  tide-water  between  Medibrd  and  Boston,  or  between  Troy  and 


[Doc.  No.  854.]  13 

Albany,  and  the  idea  of  supplying  water  to  the  higher  streets  of 
Alexandria  relinquished,  a  very  different  plan  would  present  itself. 

Let  the  river  surface,  by  a  dam  above  the  ferry  at  Georgetown,  be 
raised  to  a  level  of  eight  feet  above  that  of  ebb-tide,  and  a  canal  con- 
ducted on  said  level  to  Alexandria. 

Such  a  canal  would  probably  fall  short  of  eight  miles  in  length. 
Its  bank  would  have  "its  basis  in  the  edge  of  the  river,  the  whole  dis- 
tance, except  in  passing  Alexander's  island,  and  some  alluvial  flats 
below  Four  Mile  run. 

A  conjectural  estimate  of  the  cost  of  such  a  canal  may  be  made  as 
follows  : 

A  bank  based  in  the  river  edge  for  six  miles,  at  35,200 
cubic  yards  per  mile=2ll,200  cubic  yards,  at 
10  cents  -  g21,120  00 

Two  dollars  the  yard  run  for  a  paving  to  protect  from 

the  abrasion  of  the  waves,   (1,760X6X§2)=  21,120  00 

Across  the  bay  at  the  mouth  of  Four  Mile  run,  may 
measure  650  yardsXQO  cubic  yards*=58,500  cu- 
bic yards  at  20  cents         -  -  11,700  00 
2,870  yards  (that  remains  of  8  miles)  of  common  exca- 
vation, along  Alexander's  island,  &c.  at  13  cubic 
yards=37, 310  cubic  yards  at  8  cents        -            -.       2,98500 
A  dam  across  the  Potomac,  about         -                           -       20,00000 
Two  culverts   -  600  00 
A  wastc-wcir  at  Four  Mile  run                                       -            400  00 
Two  road  bridges  and  two  farm  bridges  550  00 
One  eight  feet  lock       -                                                     -         6,400  00 

Total,     -  -     §84,875  00 

A  towing-path  bridge  over  the  Potomac  is  yet  unprovided.  A 
road-bridge  at  Georgetown  has  long  been  contemplated  ;  and  to  this 
might  be  attached  abridge  for  the  towing-horses  to  pass  on,  a  proper 
distance  above  the  proposed  dam,  as  has  lately  been  done  on  the 
Champlain  canal,  for  passing  the  Hudson,  above  the  dam  at  the  head 
of  Saratoga  Falls,  and  the  Mohawk,  above  the  dam  below  the 
Cohoes  Falls. 

A  towing-path  bridge  erected  with  such  aid,  would  cost  much  less 
than  the  value  of  the  water  power,  created  by  the  erection  of  the 
dam.  On  each  shore,  hydraulic  establishments,  of  great  value  in  such 
a  situation,  might  be  located. 

As  locks  from  the  canal  into  the  river  at  Georgetown  would,  in 
all  probability,  be  constructed,  whether  a  canal  was  made  to  Alex- 
andria or  not,  the  cost  of  looking  twenty-nine  feet  from  the  canal 
surface  to  the  dam  surface;  is  not  taken  into  the  estimate  of  this 
project. 

*  This  calculation  is  for  <i  mound,  acting  as  a  dam,  the  top  wide  enough  for  a  tow- 
ing-path across  this  bay  ;  if  a  c«t  ;;l  carried  over  on  an  embankment  should  be  found 
indispensable,  the  cost  of  crossing  this  bay  would  be  more  than  doubled. 

i 


14  [Doc.  No.  254.  J 

.5  Wooden  Aqueduct,  $c. 

An  aqueduct  has  been  proposed  here,  of  the  description  of  those  on 
which  the  Erie  canal  crosses  and  recrosses  the  Mohawk  river,  to 
wit :  a  wooden  trunk,  resting  on  stone  piers  and  abutments. 

The  averaged  cost  of  these  two  aqueducts  was  a  little  over  fifty 
dollars  the  foot  run  ;  foundations  of  both  upon  a  rock  bottom,  and  the 
water  very  shallow,  affording  every  facility  for  a  cheap  and  secure 
foundation. 

No  such  work  as  that  here  proposed  has  been  erected  in  our  tim- 
ber country,  but  calculations  for  building  piers  in  tide  water,  between 
Baltimore  and  Havre  de  Grace,  are  to  be  found  in  tin1  report  of 
Messrs.  Bland,  Winchester,  and  Patterson,  made  to  the  General  As. 
scmbly  of  Maryland,  1823.  The  cost  of  the  foundation  of  a  pier  in 
said  report,  is  put  at  §93  60. 

The  aqueduct  here  proposed  must  be  17  feet  higher  the  averaged 
elevation  of  the  two  Mohawk  aqueducts;  but  the  above  foundations,  as 
they  are  calculated,  bring  the  work  from  the  bottom  to  the  surface  at 
low  tide  ;  therefore  the  cost  of  but  nine  feet  in  height,  ought  to  be  ad- 
ded to  each  pier. 

A  calculation  of  the  cost  of  this  aqueduct  may  stand  as  follows  : 
Length  of  the  aqueducts  1.040  feetX 850=     -  -      {§52,000  00 

Foundations  for  26  piers  26X893  60=  2434  00 

Additions  to  height  of  26  piers  60*  yardsXg3X26^=  4,680  00 


Whole  cost  of  the  aqueduct        -  -      $59, 11400 

From  the  cost,  as  estimated,  of  the  canal,  (Sl63,438,) 
.take  S20,000  saved,  by  not  crossing  at  the  "  Three 

Sisters,"  and  there  will  be  remaining       -             -  g!43,438  00 

To  which  add  the  above  cost  of  the  aqueduct  -             -  59, 11 4  00 


And  the  whole  cost  of  this  project  is      -    §202, 55£  00 
From  said  sum  deduct  the  cost  (as  above)  of  the  lotv 

level  project         ...  -        84,873  00 


And  the  remainder  is    -  gl  17, 679  00 


Which  expense  is  to  be  incurred  for  watering  Alexandria  three 
streets  higher  up,  ahd  obtaining  abas  infor  sea  vessels  ;  add  further  to 
said  expense,  that  of  navigating,  forever,  a  longer  canal. 

The  survey  and  levels,  map  and  profile,  were  made  by  Captain 
Hartman  Bache,  assisted  by  Lieutenants  J.  D.  Graham,  Boyce,  and 
Wragg. 

Very  respectfully  submitted  by  your  obedient  servant. 

JAS.  GEDOES,  Civil  Engineer. 

*  The  cost  of  a  cubic  yard  of  suck  masonry  gathered  from  the  opinions  of  build-' 
•M-S  in  Georgetown. 


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